Huck Finn
by Tailgating
Summary: Possibly the next generation. So back in the year 1999 my teacher asked me to write my own version of Huckleberry Finn. And this story was born.


Life on the Tripton Space port was peaceful and elegant. People lived in luxury and wealth in homes and apartments of the latest styles and technology. Children were sent to schools where boys like me were taught to become well mannered and civilized.

Ugh! But as for me I'd rather be thrown into the energy grinder at the center of the Spaceport. Names – well you can just call me Huck, all my friends do. Even though I only have one friend, I call him Tom, which works for him because his name really is Tom. And he is the reason I got pulled into this civilized world where everyone acts and dresses alike. I was just fine with living free, but when Tom and me got tangled together it was live here or die. But I still think I got the worse of the two.

This forceful old monster, who claims to be a lady, took me in and tried to teach me how to behave properly. Some way to live, everyday with a threat ringing in the ears, 'one false move and the whole space station could go down'. I wasn't sure how long I could survive all that. So I came to the decision, I needed to save myself and get out!

It took a lot of clever thinking but I got out by sneaking past the guards to the ship dock. I figured I'd be safe in an old abandon communication center for at least a year, but then they actually started looking for me! I can't think of why. Personally I thought that mutant lady would throw a party the day I up and left – Anyway I couldn't stay there with all those search squads and control robot's looking for me. I would surly be found in a few mega-seconds and there's no doubt I'd be pulled back into that disgusting blob of 'do not speak' and 'do not touch'

I jumped right into a rafter ship that had been left for junk. I wasn't sure if it would actually move, but I pulled back the throttle and headed straight down the Milky Way. Didn't know where I was going and I didn't care. Little did I know I wasn't the only one with an escape plan.

"Pardon me, but where might this ship be destined?" A mechanical voice came from behind me in the shadows. Startled me so bad I would have hit the moon when I jumped. Lucky for me I had my seatbelt on. "Huck?"

"Slave unit #12?" I shouted, punching the auto pilot button. I needed to focus on trying to stop my heart from beating so fast. "What in the comet's tail are you doing here?"

"What are you doing in control of this space unit, you are not legally permitted to operate this vehicle." He said.

"I know that!"

"My memory banks detect your deceased."

"Ya I know that too." I said proudly. "That was my plan from the beginning." After I explained my solution to my problems, the robot told me his tale. I had to promise not to speak of it ever, so I promised. Seeing how I didn't expect to see anyone, that would care, ever again. Then he told me, he's running away to find Oriac, where robots are able to serve as there own masters.

"Are you crazy?" I had to shout to keep from laughing, who'd ever heard of such a place. "You big hunk of tin! You're headed for a dead end."

"Of course, It would be acceptable to have some assistance in my journey, It could be classified as fun." I'm not sure how, but I guess my love for adventure pushed me into saying yes. I knew some how I was going to regret it.

We traveled far together running into all sorts of trouble. But with some quick thinking we were back on the rafter following the stars.

I didn't want to admit it but I was growing fond of the heap of scrap metal. I thought of those men that fell in love with their ships. Just like that Hon Solo, it makes me sick to think how much he loved that useless thing. Now it's a museum piece, never to be flown or touched again. Which made me even sicker – I mean come on it's a machine! – I figured I'd settled that debate with myself. Then one morning I thought I'd lost my mind…

"Tin?" I woke up and I was all alone, I also had no idea where I was. The rafter wasn't on its regular course, it was pulled to port and Tin was nowhere in sight. It looked as if the door on the ship had been forced open – and there I knew he'd been captured. -

I didn't hesitate, I immediately jumped to the ground and headed for the first sign of civilization. There were trees on every side of me, which I found quite odd. I haven't been anywhere where they had so much organic life. Not far down the road I came to a large old house, it must have been an antique; I've never seen anything like it. They had a huge organic yard. Something you don't see at all these days, so I came to an immediate conclusion. – Who or whatever lived there was rich. – Then memories of past experiences caught up with me and I knew I needed to put a light year or two between me and this place. As usual I was too late.

"Well, Well, Well" A voice came from behind me, it was a female voice which made me even more afraid to turn around. She barely even took time to inhale when she started into her speed sentence. "If it is like the totally energetic little space boy from the Tripin' galaxy which is so far away you have to travel through a huge black whole to find it. What are you doing here?" I didn't know how she knew where I was from or even why she spoke so fast. You couldn't time her with a mili-second stopwatch.

I slowly turned around and came face to face with a blonde hair, blue eyed adolecent. She gave me a smile, as if I should know who she was – And to tell you the truth I didn't – "Oh yeah ma said she got a Pulsar Mail from your mom just a few minutes ago, saying that you were coming. But we weren't even expecting you 'till like Thursday of Friday, a whole day or two away from now. Ahhh, This is so not cool for me she'll expect you to come and hang out with me! Come on, I'll unload ya on ma, hopefully she can find you some new clothes and I'll get out of here."

She grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up the steps onto the porch. I didn't say anything; figured it was best to keep my mouth closed in case I came up with the wrong story. Besides, just listening to her talk was making me tired. I was also kind of curious who she thought I was.

"Ma will be totally happy you came so soon, she won't even realize I'm gone just walk in the door and the first door to your left is the kitchen room. I'm gonna take off for..." She hadn't finished her completely mixed up sentence when an old, rough, quivery voice came from inside the house, which didn't sound to happy.

"Tramursha! You speak like a real human being or you are grounded!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Tramursha?" I didn't realize I had spoken out loud until I caught the odd look she shot me. Lowering her voice, she leaned close and whispered.

"Ya, Tammy! Like who else have you been writin' on the planet earth?" My eyes were probably the size of space currency – did she just say earth? – In school they taught us that earth was on the brink of destruction when Tripton launched into space. She didn't seem to notice the look of surprise on my face, she simply picked up a square case and ran down the steps. "Mother! Someone is here to see you!" She shouted over her shoulder as she disappeared down the dirt road. A blast of cold air rushed by me when I turned around the door was open and a tall thin woman starred down at me. There was no way that voice I had just heard belonged to that lady, but sure enough it did.

"Well what a universal surprise," She boomed, which sounded quite painful coming out of such a small physical being. "When did you arrive? And so fast too, your mother just pulsar mailed me about an hour ago."

"Well she wanted me to surprise you." I stammered out

"Well she sure did," She gasped pulling me into the house. "That's my sister for you, just extremely unexpected. How is she anyway we haven't laid eyes on each other for well, you weren't even born yet."

"Why?" I figured that if I kept my vocabulary down to a minimum I would be safe from causing this incident from blowing up in my face.

"Well she loves the life in space and when they said she could join the space land she found the first flight there. I prefer to stay here on ground." She said pushing me into an unusually soft seat. "I don't like it up there where everything's so unsure. If one glitch is put in to a the computer the whole place could go down."

This was a fact that I was very familiar with, except I _was_ the glitch. She placed a cup, of what looked like mud in front of me, I'd never seen anything like it before so I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do with it. She must have noticed the funny looks I'd been giving it, "Do you not like chocolate milk?" She asked. I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to speak.

"I don't believe it!" She gasped "Tomas Sawyer, you mean to tell me you've never had chocolate milk before?" I almost choked on my tongue. What did she just call me? Tomas Sawyer was my only friend back on Tripton, and this was his long lost Aunt Sheila. Who wasn't lost she just lived on a different planet. What a relief!

"Nope, computer has never fixed the substance." I said picking up the cup and taking a swig. Never tasted anything so good in my life, the taste was 10 times better than any healthy artificial food we eat on the spaceport.

Well after I told her all about Tom's family and life, it was late into the night. Somehow while we were talking she managed to prepare an entire dinner by hand, and Uncle Greg showed up to eat it. He was a tall gray haired man with a fairly large gut. He shook my hand and gave me a "noogie" I believe he called it. But as soon as he was finished eating he disappeared into the back yard.

I was escorted up the stairs and down the hall to a large room.

"You'll sleep in our guest room." She announced pushing the door open. I smiled to keep my jaw from dropping to the ground. I have never set eyes on a bedroom that big. With a soft bed, and door that went out to a balcony "Tammy's room is across the hall. But you won't have to worry about her she's over at a friend's tonight. Sleep good now."

And I sure did! That bed was so comfortable I could have laid their forever. But a bright light, which I assumed, was the Sun came through my window and that told me I had to get up. I jumped out of bed and spotted the clothes that Aunt Sheila laid out for me. I slipped them on and boy was I surprised. Compared to these clothes, my regular suit felt like a cardboard uniform.

"What is wrong with you!" Greg's shouting came from outside in the backyard. Naturally I wanted to know what was up, so I ran to the glass door and pulled it open. Stepping out on the balcony I spotted 'Uncle' Greg trying to fix what looked like a slave unit. I wanted to slap myself across the face, I felt so stupid, it was Tin! I had completely forgot, I've been having so much fun being distracted with all the unique objects I let him slip my mind. I wasn't going to tell him that, he'd hate me for sure.

"Breakfast!" 'Aunt' Sheila called from beneath me "Would you quit playing with that and get in here to eat!" The screen door slammed behind her. Greg mumbled something that I couldn't hear as he backed into a smaller structure and pulled down the door. A large animal bounded out and excitedly pounced at him. I silently watched as he walked into the door beneath me. I must have been really deep into thought because I almost fell over the wood railing when Aunt Sheila said my name. – Well it really isn't my name but you know what I mean – When I spun around she was standing in my room peering out the open door.

"Not used to the real oxygen 'eh!?"

"We're not able to grow so many trees on Tripton," I said trying to steady my heart the best I could.

"That's not surprising, come on its time to eat."

I tried to sort out my plans during breakfast but the food was so good it was difficult to focus. My plate was full with a huge mountain of pancakes, drenched in syrup and butter, with a huge glass of orange juice. – Yummy – I've never tasted anything so good before. There was no way I would go back to that artificial planet again.

Unexpectedly Aunt Sheila sent me into town for some groceries and said that if I were to see Tammy anywhere to drag her home by her ponytail.

"She has chores to do and if she thinks her little band can get her out of doing them she's got another thing coming." Man that lady can give a threat, and be all happy about it at the same time. So I followed the road until I came to a small town. – Well it was small compared to what I'm used to – There were vehicles driving on the ground and buildings that looked about as antique as Sheila and Greg's house. I must have been so busy sight seeing I wasn't watching where I was going. I stumbled into someone, but before I had a chance to apologize he pinched me.

"Ouch! What was that…." Then I recognized him, the 12 year old blonde hair boy standing frozen in front of me was none other then Tom himself.

Well he was sure shocked to see me. I spent about three hours explaining to him all that had happened and he still didn't understand. Then finally I just told him to use his imagination while I explained it one last time. He finally caught on and he helped me out with the grocery shopping. He had a better idea of was on the list then I ever would have. Meanwhile he told people his name was Seth, his older brother, and introduced himself to everyone. Soon everyone in the town knew the Sawyer brothers, Seth and Tom, from outer space.

We headed back for home and ran into whom other than Tammy herself. She and a few friends came out of a large recreational facility. They were talking and shouting so loud that they walked by us without even noticing. I pointed her out to Tom who just laughed at the fact that she was exactly how she sounded in the letters she wrote.

We made our way down the road and entered the front door. "Aunt Sheila! Guess who else showed up!" I shouted. We entered the Kitchen where I knew we'd find her cooking something. She about dropped her spatula when she laid her eyes on Tom, - Uh I mean Seth –.

"Surprise!" Tom shouted dropping the groceries on the table "I'm Seth Aunt 'S' come to see my favorite Aunt in the entire universe!" She was so excited, she pulled out the cookies in the oven and served them hot. She sat us both down and insisted Tom start talking. He did, and he really got into it, telling all sorts of things. Most of which he made up I'm sure.

Right in the middle of one of Seth's stories Uncle Greg walked in. He looked really disappointed, didn't even give Tom a noogie, which I explained to him later.

"Well you know that droid we found the other day?" I stopped eating and listened closer now. "I'm afraid were going to have to send it to the dump and send the owner a letter."

"Is it in that bad of shape?" Aunt Sheila asked

"Afraid so," He gulped a huge glass of milk "I don't have time today so I'll take it out first thing tomorrow morning."

"Okay I'll send the Pulsar to Mrs. Fulgush," I shuttered at the sound of that name. I couldn't stand to think that she actually still existed. Aunt Sheila got up and left the room, I turned to Tom and explained to him that we needed to get Tin out tonight before they tear apart his memory circuits. That seemed to set off a twinkle in his eyes that I only saw when he was thinking up some kind of crazy plan that would only work in a place called Never, Never Land.

"Uncle Greg," He asked, "Can we see that android? I mean before you tear him apart." He agreed and escorted us out into the back yard to the shed. He had an old electronic, padlock on the door that would be easy to break if anyone would happen to want to get in. When he opened the door we saw Tin lying lifeless on the ground behind the lawn mower. It was sad to see him like that which drove me to the conclusion that we were not going to do things Tom's way or he would never get out of there.

"See, he's just not going to be able to cut it." Uncle Greg stated "Found him in the woods. At first we figured the Sretnuh hunters stole him, out of a traveling pod that was passing through."

"Sretunh Hunters?" I questioned.

"They steal any kind of space equipment and sell it to astronomers and scientists here on earth. Get a better price for them here then they could anywhere else. They also run the junk yard." He sighed unsatisfied, and pulled the door back down and locked it. "Well I'm late for work, See you boys later."

Tom and I walked around the backyard contemplating what we were going to do. I found a swing hanging from a tree and intrigued by it sat down and started to swing. I kind of listened as Tom came up with all these odd ways to dig under, blow up, tear down, and even de-roof the shed in order to get Tin out. When he brought in the fact that we'd need to steal a helicopter from the airforce base a few miles away I had to cut him off.

"There is now way we are going to get a helicopter here!" I laughed "But we can sneak out late tonight, wheel him down the road back to the rafter and head off to finish our trip to Oraic. Tom didn't like how plain it sounded, but he went along with it, with very little argument, which I found very odd. But there was one problem that we didn't think about, till later that night.

The four of us had all sat down to another huge dinner, when Aunt Sheila shouted unexpectedly "TAMMY! Get in this Kitchen right now!" The blonde hared girl slowly entered the kitchen with her eyes to the floor. "You were supposed to be home hours ago young lady."

"I…" She spotted Tom and looked a little confused. "I heard Seth was here."

"Don't change the subject," Aunt Sheila scolded "You go to your room, I don't want to hear any music and when I come up there I expect you to be doing your school work for the next year!"

"But I don't have…"

"Find some!" Without another word but not taking her eyes off Tom and me she walked through the kitchen and disappeared up the stairs.

After Tom and I finished our dinner we headed up the stairs to bed too. Only we weren't going to bed, we planned to spend the next few hours planning what to do. Soon all the shouting ceased to come from Tammy's room, and the shuffling feet of Aunt Sheila also stopped. That's when we decided it was time to put our plan into action.

Opening the sliding door we tip toed across the balcony and down the large tree. Tom was still up in the tree when our only problem showed up.

"What are you two doing?" the whisper came from behind us. Tammy stood with he hands on her hips waiting for an explanation.

"What are you doing out here?" I shot back trying my best to avoid her question.

"I asked you first!" She shot back at me, I could see in her face that she was trying to avoid my question too. Tom finally fell out of the tree and smothered his laughter with his hands. "Okay I'm outta here you two better not be getting into any kind of trouble or else, no wait I didn't see you, you didn't see me, I am not a part of this. Later!" She disappeared around the house and suddenly our little break out seemed to be getting easier and we had just gotten outside.

Forgetting about Tammy we slipped around in the shadows to the shed.

"What's the combo?" Tom asked me. I had looked over Greg's shoulder while he'd punched it in. I snatched the lock out of his hands and typed in '12-16-10' the lock snapped open. It took all our strength to push the door up as quietly as possible, trying our best not to wake up anything that was supposed to be asleep. But it sure wasn't easy.

Tom flipped on a flashlight and I went in and turned on Tin. As expected nothing happened, he just sat there with one little yellow light flashing.

"I thought you said he had a mind of his own," Tom

stated a little disappointed. I think he expected him to

make a lot of noise making the escape a little more exciting.

"He did," I managed to say

"And still do," Tin said "Just not enough energy, circuits wore out, and missing leg and arm function."

"Shhhh!" I waved at him to be quiet, as a light in the house went on.

"We better jet!" Tom said, "They've heard it."

"Move the lawn mower so I can move Tin out." He pulled out the lawn mower, which made even more noise then Tin had made. The door to the house opened wide and Aunt Sheila's voice shouted to Uncle Greg

"Greg I think we got some TP 'ers.

Get the laser rifle."

"What are TP 'ers?" Tom asked

"Would you just hurry!" I urged as

we both pushed Tin out across the lawn.

Shouts from the house seemed to change, and the laser rifle became real. Uncle Greg must have still been sleepy, because the first few shots were way off. But it wore off fast, and his aim was actually quite good. We had just reached the edge of the forest when Tom was hit, right in the back. I couldn't push Tin alone he was too heavy and Tom lay silent.

"Thank you for trying Huck," Tin said "But you had better help Master Tom." Uncle Greg and Aunt Sheila approached us three that sat exhausted and defeated on the ground.

The next morning, I sat by Tom as he slowly woke up. Confused and tired he asked me lots of questions. I explained to him that Greg only used his stun gun and had to convince him that he wasn't dead.

"Where's Aunt Sheila and Uncle Greg now?" He asked

"Tammy was caught missing in all the action last night. She sneaked out to meet some friends. She's down stairs being lectured still."

"At least some good came from all this," He laughed.

"Except Tammy, knew who we were." I said "The truths all out now, and Tin's going back to Mrs. Fungus."

"That's Fulgush," a brown hair girl corrected as she entered the room she looked about our age maybe older. "Sorry my names Creesha, I came to tell you that Tin's not going back to her, my dad's gonna take care of him."

I think that was the first time Oraic was ever explained or spoken of by a human. A place where androids can serve as there own masters, by helping the humans keep the laws of the of earth by becoming cops. She made it sound so great I wanted to go with Tin, but plans were to send Tom and I out on the next flight.

"Well I sure hope you two are happy," Aunt Sheila scolded as she entered the room "Getting everyone wound up and frightened like that, you should be ashamed of yourselves."

"If you would have kept to the shadows more we would have just thought you were TP 'ers and not actually shot." Greg said "But when I noticed you were pushing something I thought you were the sretunh's come back to steal that 'droid'."

"Sorry, I just wanted to help Tin." I said confidently.

"We know Huck," Sheila said, "that's why I'm happy to ask you if you want to stay here with us. We know you don't want to go back to that mean old woman." I think she realized how shocked I was at her saying that "You should have read those letters she sent to me, I wouldn't want to put anyone through that kind of torture." We all couldn't help but laugh and joke over that. But there was one thing that was bugging me. So I leaned over to Creesha and whispered,

"What are TP 'ers?" As I asked her that question a light sparked in her eyes and a grin crossed her face.

"I'll have to show you sometime." She whispered back.

I really think I'm going to like living on a planet like earth. Not only do I feel more comfortable and free, but there are a lot of fun things to do too. I actually heard Tammy's band and it was not as bad as I had imagined. And I have a dog! Actually it's Tom's Dog but since he still lives on Tripton, he can't take it with him. We call him TD, for Tom's Dog, not very imaginative but it works for him.

You may think my adventures have ended, but really they're just beginning.

THE END


End file.
